This past weekend on a drive, my vacuum system failed and I was barely able to get enough pressure on the brakes to stop the car. I had recently replaced the relay in the system, as I had seen problems before. After putting in the new relay, things worked fine, for a while. Thinking the switch might be bad, I replaced that as well after the experience last weekend. I tried it tonight and even with the new switch, no luck. I've hooked the vacuum pump up directly to the battery and it runs fine, so I don't suspect the pump. I also moved the power supply to another free ignition source on the fuse box. Nothing is working. Is anyone familiar with this system that could give me some advice? Is it an option to pull vacuum straight off the intake? The car has a performance cam (installed by previous owner), so I'm not sure how much vacuum there will be, but I can't imagine it being worse than the current situation.
Problems With SSBC Vacuum System
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What does SSBC say about it?
Still waiting to hear back from them...
why am I not surprised??
I'm back on the road! I went back to basics and individually verified the functionality of each component:
-Vacuum pump: applied 12V from battery directly to pump; worked fine and pulled vacuum
-Vacuum switch: Hooked up the booster end of the switch to my Topsider oil removal system, pumped a vacuum and hooked up an Ohmmeter. Released vacuum and confirmed that circuit opened. One of the two switches tested was bad.
-Relay: Bench tested relay following these guidelines: http://youtu.be/3JB63ebFfgU Additionally, I found an old DC power supply for some computer component, and replaced the bayonet connector with two connectors compatible with my relay. Now I have a reliable 12V DC power supply to bench test any components I need to.
-I combined the working relay and working switch and I'm back in business.
In my opinion, the SSBC relay is of poor quality and looks fragile. I'm using a standard Bosch relay which feels much more stout and most importantly works reliably.
It was great cruising along the beach again today!
-Vacuum pump: applied 12V from battery directly to pump; worked fine and pulled vacuum
-Vacuum switch: Hooked up the booster end of the switch to my Topsider oil removal system, pumped a vacuum and hooked up an Ohmmeter. Released vacuum and confirmed that circuit opened. One of the two switches tested was bad.
-Relay: Bench tested relay following these guidelines: http://youtu.be/3JB63ebFfgU Additionally, I found an old DC power supply for some computer component, and replaced the bayonet connector with two connectors compatible with my relay. Now I have a reliable 12V DC power supply to bench test any components I need to.
-I combined the working relay and working switch and I'm back in business.
In my opinion, the SSBC relay is of poor quality and looks fragile. I'm using a standard Bosch relay which feels much more stout and most importantly works reliably.
It was great cruising along the beach again today!
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